When it comes to decor, I love a good “before and after” story and this is a really fun one — but even better, there’s an Uncommon Goods giveaway at the end to help you decorate your own space so don’t miss out!

The Backstory: Nearly six years ago when I moved into my house, the spare room across from my bedroom became my office. At the time, I was still freelancing at studios around town so it was the ideal spot to spend nights and weekends working on projects. That all changed as Branch grew and working from home began to hold me back from expanding. Six months ago, I moved my design studio into a designated office space and that left me with a barren room which no longer served a purpose. Here’s what the room looked like before I moved my office out:

I hate leaving anything unfinished in my life — it’s a Virgo thing. I appreciate organization and order more than anything else. We already had a guest room in the basement and no plans of moving any roommates in (because let’s face it, Chubs already did that last year). Then, I started pinning ideas to a board titled Dream Hangout with visions of this room becoming my go-to relaxation spot.

Over the next few months, I pulled items into the space, arranging and rearranging until it felt like me. For the first time, I had a room that was very personal — it wasn’t the color palette of Branch or Blogcademy but rather, just my taste. I’d loved “Crayola crayon green” since I was four so I used that as an accent to offset the more expected black and white.

Then, I spent what felt like forever trying to add the so-called finishing touches so I could mentally check it off as done. But as you know, real life rarely has such clean, defined barriers. It never really felt 100% finished and I soon realized I was using that as an excuse to not share the space with you. So, here it is — some things will shift as time goes on but you know what? Good enough is good enough!

IKEA has stepped up their lighting in a big way — I have two of these floor lamps and they add a lot of style to a barren corner!

I can’t stand clutter but rooms need a play of both dimension and scale to really come to life. I tend to lean on things that have a useful quality to them like books, mirrors and plants versus random knick-knacks that collect dust.

To keep the room from veering too far into kitschy, overly colorful territory, I anchored it with a lot of black and white accents like IKEA pillows and the Pia Wallen cross blanket. If you’re thinking of ordering this, I should mention that this is the small version and works better for accent purposes like draping over the arm of a chair.

On my coffee table, I have a mix of personal items contained in a mirrored tray. Trays are great because they lend a sense of order to even the most random collection of objects.

I’m not super big on taxidermy but my brother showed up on my doorstep years ago with this beauty he’d found at a thrift store and I held onto it for him. When we first rescued Chubs, he would crawl up it and hang from the antlers!

I wanted to tell you about this loveseat because it has a really great feature: the cover is removable. The downside is that it doesn’t stay perfectly tight and shows wrinkles but the upside is that if you have pets, babies or constantly knock over your glass of red wine, you can just buy a new one! This is also a great solution for the commitment-phobic since the covers come in a bunch of different colors.

In the far corner of my room, I have an inspiration board dedicated to my favorite vacation spot, Palm Springs. This room is dedicated to relaxation, after all. 😉

I’ve had this Phillipe Starck gnome table for nearly 15 years and it happens to match the couch perfectly!

Here’s the view of the room from the couch — there’s a bookshelf to the left that holds my fashion magazine collection which is so much better than having it jammed inside the closet.

You know how a lot of older houses have tons of built-in cabinets and shelving? I had a set of doors that opened to storage right here but hated the way they looked. In my old office, I had this area blocked off with artwork. The thing is, I needed a spot to put my TV and Joey had the idea to remove the doors, mount it inside and then paint it black so it popped against the white exterior walls. It turned out to be a great space-saving solution that looks really customized.

Adding an element of life is really important when decorating a room so I have tons of low-maintenance succulents and cacti.

My long-standing addiction: magazines.

I looked all over the place for a bar cart but nothing I came across was affordable — then I found this basic one on Overstock for a great deal. It’s perfect for holding cosmetics and all sorts of odds and ends.

UncommonGoods Giveaway

For this giveaway, I’ve partnered up with UncommonGoods, an amazing online store with a focus on supporting artisans and giving back to the community. I love everything they stand for and now, it’s your turn to put the finishing touches on YOUR space, whether it’s your kitchen, office or somewhere else! One lucky reader will win a $100.00 voucher and you can spend it on whatever you’d like on their site!

The fine print: Contest is open to everyone over the age of 18 worldwide. You have until 11:59pm PST on Friday, May 15th, 2015 to enter. Please include your email address so I can contact you! One winner will be chosen at random. Once contacted, you will have one week to respond and claim your prize. The prize may not be exchanged or transferred and no cash alternative will be offered. Liability cannot be accepted for entries which are lost in transit or not received due to technical difficulties. My decision is final and no correspondence will be entered into. No purchase necessary.

Good luck and thanks for joining me on this tour!

Special thanks to Uncommon Goods for sponsoring this giveaway. All photos and opinions are my own.

your room looks amazing…the perfect hangout!!! black, white, + a pop of color is totally my favorite way to decorate too…and I’d love to bring it to our living space (which is the room next on my re-do list because it does not currently have enough color in it…too much neutral and not enough personality!). so fun…and thanks for sharing…you have totally fabulous style!

I would LOVE to be able to do up my studio/office. It was high on the priority list but due to other vital renovations and costly medical bills it is now sadly the last on the list of importance (surely bathroom plumbing isn’t that necessary? hehe) It is so hard to be inspired to create anything with such drab and unfinished surroundings on top of unpleasant medical treatments. I would love to get my personal space finished to escape to and get my creative mojo back! Much love to you Nubby xoxo

I’m always completely in awe of your decorating style. Everything looks so put together. I wish I was like that!

If I won the giveaway, I would definitely redecorate my living room. I live in a pretty small apartment right now and the living space is cluttered and cramped. I’d love to buy some pieces that would help organize the space!

I love that IKEA lamp collection! I want to hoard them all until I have a place to put them (because I’m SO AFRAID that they’re going to do discontinue them).

If I won the giveaway, I would probably redecorate my bedroom. I’m currently living in a roommate situation, so I don’t have much say in how the rest of the house is decorated. My bedroom is looking a bit sad at the moment too–it could definitely use some lovin’.

My roommate is getting ready to gut our bathroom and remodel. Although I know that I’ll be helping on the work end of the remodel, I’d love to contribute to the decorating part too (but having started a business this year, my funds are pretty tied up). We tend towards minimalism in our house, so I’d get a few small finishing touches (like a cement toothbrush holder!)

I would redecorate our music room! We spend a lot of time huddled over a drum machine and Nord, and right now it’s just a box with music gear crammed in. I’d love to make the space feel a little more vibrant and inspiring.

What a beautiful room! This is going to my house inspirational pinboard for sure.

And for the giveaway, I’d like to redecorate my bedroom. I still live with my parents, so this is the only room that’s my own, it’s where I work and where I spend most part of my day, so it would be great to have a new atmosphere.

I’d like to redecorate my bathroom! It’s very cluttery and I want to invest in pieces that are both functional and fashionable for this space. Getting ready in the morning I don’t have a chair so I sit on my toilet seat which is getting old!

I’m starting grad school in the fall and can’t wait to decorate the study space/ office that I’ll essentially be living in for the next five years. Luckily, I already have an Uncommon Goods wish list so I’m halfway there already!

My living room! It’s the entrance to my home and right now it is populated by: two jack-o-lanterns on pillars, one leather loveseat, a Bette Midler pillow, an enormous inflatable pretzel, and an inflatable killer whale that’s bigger than I am.

I love how it turned out, perhaps because bold b&w is right up my alley! Isn’t it amazing how heavy and cumbersome magazines can get? I hang on to mine as well but most are stuffed in boxes around the house.

I am so ready to tackle our home office, especially now that I may work from home more than I did at my previous job. Presently it’s dark and terribly lacking in personality and organization. I imagine wall shelves with funky planters would bring a new life to our environment!

Uncommon Goods is one of my favorites! I would most definitely redo my home office. It’s become a mishmash of everything that no longer really had a place once my wife and I got married and I moved into her place. I’d love to minimize, reorganize, and add a few interesting conversation pieces into the mix.

If I won the giveaway, I’d probably decorate my living room (among other rooms). It’d be perfect because I just moved into a new apartment and it needs some style. I did buy from Uncommon Goods before (the fire escape shelves – which fits perfectly in my Brooklyn apartment!)

I’d definitely find some new wacky stuff for my office. I asked my boss (just yesterday!) to go part-time. Now I’ll be able to focus more on my blog, and I’m going to need a great space that fosters creativity and focus!!

My husband and I are both artists and we left our cushy corporate jobs in advertising and IT for over a year and a half now to pursue our creative projects. In between, we take freelance jobs so we can get by. So far it’s been a combination of ups and downs. It is hard to be a full-time artist in the Philippines, so we have been fortunate enough so far to be able to get enough opportunities to live a full-time creative life.

We love our home, and like you we want to maximize its beauty and purpose as much as we can and make use of every nook and cranny. And if you ask me, the room I would love to decorate would be our studio. Sadly, it’s been neglected for the past year, as we’ve been using our dining area more due to its easy accessibility to the kitchen. So, the studio became more like a room to stock our odds and ends. It is sad, for the room is beautiful, bursting with natural light with crisp white walls and is breezy when the windows are open.

So, for this year, we want to take this chance and really make it our designated space for work and to keep our Dining Area clutter free without having to fuss about if we need to clean just so visitors can hang out properly or worry about people fiddling with any of our brushes, paints, papers or work in progress. Decorating the studio with things we love would probably encourage us to go there more often.

My bedroom needs a total reinvention. I’ve never really focused on it and for the last 5 years I have sort of just collected stuff instead of curating stuff I actually want to look at! It needs an overhaul for sure!

Your decorating style is perfect! I’m so inspired by the black and white with pops of color. I’m moving into my first apartment with my boyfriend next month and would love to pick out some new things together from Uncommon Goods! It would be the perfect way to begin our time living together. I mean, his and hers key holders and “je t’aime” pillowcases? What could be better? <3

Thanks Shauna for this awesome giveaway! My mother-in-law is moving in with us. So it would be nice to redecorate her room to be. Currently the room is my husband’s manly office. Would love to do a little French shabby chic redo to the room!

I have been dreaming of redecorating my home office. I want to create a space that feels organized and inspired… somewhere I WANT to be while getting work done. I would also like it to reflect me and my brand — almost like the ROOM is my brand inspiration board 😉

I’d look for something to organize MY fashion mags because, ack, I’m addicted too. Ever since I was little, subscribing to YM and sassy, I’ve loved getting fresh ones in the mail each month. I’m so behind though. There are stacks of unread ones that I really need to get to. Yours look so neat! Love it.

Nice to meet you!

I'm Shauna, a graphic designer and entrepreneur. I spend my days as the Creative Director of Branch, a boutique design studio. This is my personal blog, which has been going strong since 2007. I'm obsessed with shoes, squirrels and traveling. Read more…

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If have a design question or you're itching for advice in your college education or creative career, please drop me a line at: advice@nubbytwiglet.com.

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